


Within The Ruins

by Lora_Blackmane



Series: Zine Pieces [8]
Category: Slime Rancher (Video Game)
Genre: Tera tries to collect quantum slimes, it doesn't go as planned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24562315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lora_Blackmane/pseuds/Lora_Blackmane
Summary: After stumbling across some strange ruins, Tera discovers something magical: a quantum slime. She must get one for her ranch!
Series: Zine Pieces [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712656
Kudos: 1





	Within The Ruins

**Author's Note:**

> My 1st piece for the SR OC zine, which you can find here! https://gumroad.com/l/HTpSl

Tera approached the large door within the Moss Blanket, slime key already in her hand. It had taken her several days to get one - she'd accidentally fallen and lost all her fruit for the Phosphorus Largo hidden in a small cave on the coast; but she had it. Holding her breath, she slipped it in watching as it locked in place. A wave of dust was unleashed as the door slid down, causing Tera to be blinded temporarily. After a moment had passed Tera could see again. And the sight she saw was worth the pain.

A large stone arch was silhouetted by the stars, making a wonderful backdrop to the Autumn colored trees stretching across the area in front of her. She walked forward towards the broken pillar and looked over the courtyard in front of her. Large slime statues littered the clearing, towering over the overgrown pathways. She brushed her hand across a large honey slime statue examining it. There was an indent in its mouth. What was that for? She turned a pink slime statue, suddenly noticing there was something glowing in its mouth. When She got closer she realized what it was: a plort.

It seems she had to put the right plorts in the statues' mouths. She could do that. She recognized the slimes with the clearing - honey, rad, phosphorus, rock - it would be easy to collect them. She couldn't locate two of them though. She'd have to come back later and find them before she brought the plorts here. It was getting dark, and she never had the best luck at staying coordinated in the dark. Satisfied with her plan she turned around, heading back to her ranch to sleep. She couldn't wait to tell Giovanni and Pho what she found.

* * *

Tera returned to the clearing, a satchel of plorts securely around her left shoulder. She stopped and opened the bag, making sure that everything She needed was still within it. Yes, 1 of every slime statue that sat within the clearing had a plort. Success! It only took her 4 times to get them here. She didn't lose any to Tars, falling in the ocean, or having a hostile Largo eat her satchel this time! Although she did lose the replacements to some very excitable tabby slimes... who then immediately turned into Tars. She was really starting to hate those things. But that wasn't important right now.

After shaking her head to clear her thoughts away, Tera removed the plorts from the bag and went to work. She carefully put the plorts in the statues, listening to the humming that each one produced as she slotted it in. Strange, but it didn't seem to do anything to her or her surroundings so Tera ignored it. As she slotted the last one into the blast slime statue hidden on the ground, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

The door was glowing, humming with energy as colors swirled within the slime at the center of the doorway. The glowing slimes that surrounded it, each one representing one of the statues in the clearing Tera noted in the back of her mind, started to hum before suddenly dulling. As the final note rang out the center slime exploded with light before it dulled...

And the door opened.

She stood there for a few moments, breathless at the sight of the ruins, before stepping forward. Slimes jumped out of the bushes around her, welcoming her to their home. There was a giant glowing door in front of her, protecting the ruins from intruders. How could she open it? She ran around looking for more slime statues to feed; but couldn't find anything. There had to be something she was missing...

Sighing, she put her hand on a little statue in front of the door.

And jumped as she heard glass sliding against stone. Huh. Guess this place used these little statues instead of the big ones. That would be easy to remember! And she couldn't mess this up either by losing the keys. How wonderful!

She went down into the ruins, noticing strange little spheres of light floating near the walls, and opened the next door. Farther into the ruins she went, wandering through blocky pathways until she came across the main chamber.

And there she saw them.

Yellow slimes - seemingly glitching in and out of existence, making little copies of themselves as they did so. One bounced into the air, before suddenly appearing next to her. She pulled out her Slimepedia, so feverishly flipping through the pages that some of them ripped, until she finally came upon their entry: Quantum Slime they were called.

They were beautiful.

They were absolutely stunning.

She had to have them on her ranch. She couldn't live without having  **_these_ ** slimes in her little home. Sure Giovanni and Pho were amazing; but something about these slimes captivated her more than anything in her life.

She lined up her Vacpack, ready to try to capture it-

And suddenly she was falling forward and onto her face, startling the slime and causing it to jump away. Groaning she got up, looking behind her to figure out what pushed her. Next to her was an excitable Pink Slime, jumping around excitedly. The little guy must have appeared behind her when she was focusing on the Quantum Slime. She gently picked them up and moved them away from her, giving it the last piece of fruit in her bag. As the slime happily munched on the fruit she left the room, going to look for the Quantum Slime again. It took her a moment; but she found one on a cliffside.

She cautiously sneaked up to the slime, positioning the pack again... and accidentally sucked up a Rock Slime and Pink Slime instead; leaving no room for the Quantum Slime (who proceeded to phase away from her). Ok; this was much harder than she first thought it would be. But, it couldn't be that hard right...?

* * *

"I can't figure out what to do Giovanni! Every time I try to bring one home I fail."

Giovanni said nothing, instead continuing to steal heart beats from her garden. She still wasn't sure what the Pink Tabby Largo did with those (or the carrots she gave it), but then again she wasn't really paying attention to what they did either. Honestly these talks were more for her sake than theirs. She found talking to them and Pho calming and, during times like these, perfect for brainstorming ideas. Ideas she desperately needed if she wanted to bring a Quantum Slime home. She tried sneaking up on them, running over to where they were, and capturing them from a distance and she ended up being run over by slimes, running into a wall, and tripping and falling into the water! What else could she do?

"...What if I brought a bunch of fruit to the ruins and captured them once they finished eating?!" Giovanni mewed and shoved a cuberry into her hands, which Tera took as confirmation that her plan was indeed brilliant. She sucked the berry up with her Vacpack and ran towards the orchard to get more. She'd need a lot more if she was going to succeed.

"Ok Tera, this is your moment. You  **_cannot_ ** fail this."

With renewed confidence she stepped back into the ruins, a bunch of fruit in one of the slots and plenty of empty slots ready to hold a Quantum Slime. She slapped the small statue to open the door and determinedly descended into the ruins again. This time, she  **would** walk out of here with a Quantum Slime. One way or another.

She soon found a large cluster of them in the main chamber, playing around with a handful of other slimes. Perfect.

She shot the cuberries into the crowd of slimes. After the slimes happily munched on the fruit, they calmed down. None of the Quantum Slimes moved away, their bellies too full of fruit for them to even think about making copies. Yes! She ran into the crowd of slimes, readying her Vacpack to suck them in. This was it. She was finally going to catch on-

A low growling sound echoed behind her - the only warning she got before she was slammed into the ground. Dazedly she remembered the plorts the Quantum Slimes dropped she hadn't picked up.

She couldn't think about it for long. The Tar was on top of her, it's jaws ready to clamp down on her flesh. Quickly she slammed on the Vacpack's Pulse Wave Emitter sending the beast across the room. She stood up, noting as she almost fell that the Tar had injured her left leg somehow, and held her Vacpack up to the beast. Or beasts now, because as she was getting up the Tar had grabbed some of the slimes still in the area - creating more of the horrid beasts. She started to shoot at them, thanking the Slime above she had gotten the Water Tank upgrade before coming here. One by one the Tars fell, some of them getting a bite or two in before she killed them. Soon there was only one left, and only enough water left for one more shot. She had to make this shot count.

The Tar roared and started to charge at her as she lined up her shoot. It jumped up, jaws open wide, and as it was descending, drawing closer to her skull-

_ Bang! _

The final Tar fell, leaving nothing besides her on their suddenly silent battlefield.

As the dust settled, she looked around the room. Not a single Quantum Slime was left in the wake of the fight, either having been eaten or ran away. She waited for a few minutes, hoping they would come back, but none came.

Exhausted, she started to dejectedly limp back to her ranch. Maybe she should just give u-

_ Squeak _

Startled, Tera jumped at the sound,wincing as she landed on her bad leg, before turning around. Next to the door she just went through was a little slime. A Quantum Slime.

Slowly she approached the Quantum Slime, afraid it would run away. But the slime didn't, instead happily blinking in and out of existence as she picked it up with her hands. Huh.

She smiled. It seems as if this journey wasn't fruitless after all, she thought as she looked at the little slime she held in her arms. "I'm gonna call you Bernie!"

Bernie gave no indication that they hated the name as they flickered in her arms. Happily turning around she started walking back home, a little spring in her messy step as she mentally planned where she'd place his pen. The new cave was nice and spacious...


End file.
